The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1887-09-07
Erorutb;no IN the street was as silent

down the stairway. As was moving
across the room, which was then pretty
clear of goods as far as the trapdoor, l
suddenly recollected this opening and
changed my course to reach 1t. IL was
terribly dark in the room, and one nnfa-
miliar with the place would not nave
dared to move q foot. Half way to the
trap got down on hands and knees, anh
as reached the opening, settled down
on nv stomach. There was dim light
down stairs. That settled the fact that
some one was in the store. After MIN
ute heard whispers, then the movement
of feet, then certain sound which loca-
ted the intruders to foot. They were
at the safe in the front of the store. L
drew myself forward and looked down
the opening. I could see lighted can
die and two or three dark figures at the
safe, and could hear the combination
bling worked. My first thought was to
drop my hand down and open fire in
their direction, but I remembered that
we had so many articles hanging up that
no bullet had chance of reaching to the
safe. Twas wondering what to do when
heard one of the men whisper:
s'It's all nonsense. We might work
here a week and not hit it,"
"But 1 told you to bring the tools and
YOU wouldn't" protested another.
'Oh, dry upn' put in a third voice.
"NVhat we want to do is to 60 up and
bring that counter hopper down and make
him open the box"
"I'll give the cussed thing few more
trials" said the first man, and l heard
him working away again. My eyes could
not have told me the number of robbers,
but my cars had. There were three Of
them, and they were no doubt desperate
and determined men. They spoke OF
bringing me down to open the safe as II
no resistance was anticipated or taken in-
to account. Indeed, they might well
reason that they had me at their mercy.
The rain was now falling, the night was
very dark, and pistol shot in the store
could not have been heard in either of the
dwellings. If they had reflected that |
might be armed, they would have offset
it with the fact that I was boy of
eighteen with girls face and probably
girls nerve. don't deny that l was a
bit ratified, and that my lip would quiver
in spite of me, but I was at the same time
fully determined to protect the store II it
cost me my life. How to get at the fel-
lows was what bothered me, but that
trouble was soon solved.
"There," whispered the man at the
combination as he let 60 of 1t, 81 won't
fool here another minute. That kid
knows the combination, and we can make
him work it. Come on"
They are coming up stairs. The best
place for me would be at the head of the
stairway. The stairs had half turn in
them, and would fire upon the first man
who came within range. heard the
men coming back to the stairway, and
my nerve gave way. 1t wasn't from cow
ardice, but the knowledge that l was to
kill human being upset me. decided
to retreat to my room, and, if they per-
sisted in coming that far, would shoot.
The trio had rubbers on their feet, but
they came up stairs without trying very
hard to prevent making noise. The one
who came first had the candle, and, as
he got to the head of the stairs, l saw
knife in his other hand. They made no
delay in approaching my room, and,
with great effort, l braced myself for
what | saw must happen. They could
not sec me until within three or four feet
of the door, and their first intaation
that | was out of bed was when they
heard me call out:
''Stop, or III shoot"
had them covered with the weapon,
and for fifteen seconds there was dcao
silence. Then they got plan. The man
with the candle dashed it on the floor, and
I suppose they meant to rush in on me in
the dark, but checkmated it by opening
fire. They then either meant to retreat
downstairs or toward the rear of the floor,
for saw the three together moving off,
and fired at their dim figures. Three
seconds later there was a great shout of
horror, followed by the tremendous re-
port of the double -barrelel spring gun,
and then there was absolute silence. l
think stood in the door, shaking like a
leaf, for fully three minutes before the
silence was broken by groan. Then it
came to me that the robbers had fallen
through the open door upon the co:d
leading to the gun. I struck a match,
lighted my own candle, ard, going to
the opening, saw three bodies ly-
ing below. Running back to the
bedroom to re-charge my revolver, then
went down stairs to invcsti gate. 1t was
as suspected. The three had pitched
down together. The top of ones head
had been blown off by the shot, second
had a hole in his chest as big as yoar fist,
while the third, who was responsible for
the groans was severely wounded in both
legs. 1t was three months before he
could be put on trial, and he then got
four years in prison. The whole thing
was put up job. The "drover" was a
Chicago burglar called Clawhammer
Dick" and he had hidden himself in the
store that night, and then let his pals in
by the back door. They had 4 horse and
wagon in the rclr of the building, and the
plan was to rob the store of goods as well
as to get at the money in the safe. A bit
of carelessness on my part not only saved
the store and probably my life, but
wiped out Il very desperate gang.-Ne~
YOrk Sun.